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woensdag 13 juni 2012

Time Warner Entertainment, Warner Brothers Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television Distribution were slapped with two separate lawsuits on Tuesday, filed on behalf of a man with muscular dystrophy who claims that he was denied the opportunity to attend tapings of "Dr. Drew's Lifechangers" and "Conan."

According to one suit, which names Time Warner Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television Distribution, Emmanuel Ramirez -- who is confined to a wheelchair due to his muscular dystrophy -- attempted to order eight tickets to a taping of "Dr. Drew's Lifechangers" in Oct. 2011, including one ticket for wheelchair accessible seating. The complaint claims that Ramirez was told that the taping facility, Victory Studios in Glendale, Calif., isn't wheelchair accessible.

The other suit, which names Time Warner Entertainment and Warner Bros. Entertainment, alleges that Ramirez and three friends attempted to attend a Feb. 2011 taping of "Conan" at Warner Bros. Studios but were told that Ramirez's wheelchair-accessible van would not fit in the parking structure and were directed to an outdoor lot. The suit goes on to claim that none of the vehicles used to transport audience members to the studio were wheelchair-accessible, forcing Ramirez to take a path that was not only difficult for Ramirez due to its distance, but forced him into the street at times due to narrow sidewalks.

Ramirez's suit adds that, when he and his entourage arrived at the studio, he was told that wheelchair-accessible seating was located on the second level of the audience section, accessible only by wheelchair lift. Ramirez balked, saying that the lift looked too flimsy for his heavy electric wheelchair, and asked to be seated on the lower level, but was told that he would create a fire hazard.

An individual familiar with the shows' policies told TheWrap that "Dr. Drew's Lifechangers" has regularly included audience members in wheelchairs and, in fact, has featured guests in wheelchairs on the stage, and that "Conan" accommodates wheelchair-bound guests on the second tier of audience seating, but prohibits seating on the floor of the studio due to safety concerns.

ANE Productions and Team Coco Digital are also named in the suits.

Both suits, filed by the Disability Rights Legal Center, claim violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act, California Health & Safety Code, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, and the Blind and Other Physically Disabled Persons Act.

The complaints ask that the defendants be ordered to change their allegedly discriminatory seating policies and alter their facilities to provide equal access. The suits are also asking for treble general, compensatory and statutory damages.

Continuing to press for a temporary restraining order to keep ABC's "Glass House" from premiering Monday, CBS said Tuesday that ABC's lawyers had failed to point out any substantive differences between "Glass House" and CBS's long-running "Big Brother."

CBS asked for the order last week, arguing that "Glass House" has not only stolen the concept of "Big Brother" -- 12 to 14 people live in a house where their moves are constantly monitored -- but also poached former staffers from "Big Brother" and stolen production techniques.

ABC offered a series of defenses in a filing late Monday, but in its response Tuesday, CBS said none of them addressed its chief argument: that ABC's show had committed copyright infringement and stolen trade secrets. CBS contends that ABC has defended its show by pointing only to "trivial rule changes" that differentiate it from "Big Brother."

A judge is expected to rule ahead of the planned Monday premiere date for "Glass House."

ABC said Monday in its opposition to the request for a restraining order that CBS's effort to keep its show off the air was "wholly unprecedented," and challenged CBS' suggestion that "Big Brother" was unique.

"To begin, there is no 'secret sauce' in 'Big Brother'"s production process," ABC's lawyers said. They said "Big Brother" uses "commonly known equipment, jobs, and ways of doing things in reality television production."

ABC acknowleged that its show wasn't particularly original, either: "[N]one of the alleged similarities shared by 'Big Brother' and 'The Glass House' involve copyright protectable elements -- they are all generic staples of the reality show genre: people living in a house, competing with each other to avoid elimination, and winning a prize," ABC attorneys wrote.

CBS' filing Tuesday jumped on that contention. Quoting the ABC language in the paragraph above, it said, "That is as useful as saying that Sherlock Holmes lacks copyrightable expression because it is just 'the idea of a detective and a sidekick, who live in London, and use disguises and forensic science to solve crimes.'"

CBS's attorneys said ABC had failed to point out a single show, aside from "Big Brother," that was similar to "Glass House."

The TOWIE and Celebrity Big Brother star said that although she is "loving" this year's series, she fears that the self-confessed "naughty girl" could damage the reputation of Essex girls with her potty mouth and flirtatious antics.

"The most annoying housemate is Essex girl Ashleigh," Childs wrote in her New column. "I can't believe how much she swears.

"I hope people don't think all Essex girls are like that or she'll give us a bad name."

However, Childs did reveal herself to be a fan of doorman Chris James and his "funny, squeaky voice".

"He said he has hair like [TOWIE's] Joey Essex, but I don't think he has at all - not even close," she commented.

Childs also praised the design of the new sparkly Big Brother house, declaring: "It's been vajazzled!"

Hughes has already admitted to having a crush on fellow housemate Luke Scrase.

"I just like his muscles," she explained to Big Brother. "I think that's why I like him, don't think it's his personality, we'll see what happens."

The Voice UK has been declared a hit by the BBC and producers Wall to Wall, following the announcement that the show was the broadcaster's biggest entertainment launch in a decade.

The talent show, which was won by Leanne Mitchell and coach Sir Tom Jones, had a consolidated series average of 9.2 million (38.5% share) viewers.

The figures are higher than the first series launches of Strictly, X Factor and I'm A Celebrity.

Ratings for The Voice UK climbed through the Blind Auditions and Battle Rounds, but the show struggled when it reached the Live Shows. The show hit a low of 4.49 million at the semi-final stages, but it did recover for the final which was watched by 8.7 million.

BBC One controller Danny Cohen, who gambled on purchasing the rights to the John de Mol reality series, said: "The Voice has broken all records for a new entertainment show on the BBC.

"I'm really proud of the coaches, artists and producers who have achieved this. It's great for BBC viewers that we have launched a new Saturday night entertainment show that has had such a big impact and connects so well with BBC values.

"There are also inevitably things you learn in the first series of a big new show, and we are confident that The Voice will return even stronger next year."

Leanne Klein, creative director at Wall to Wall Television, said: "Wall to Wall is very proud to have produced such a successful debut series.

"The Voice is a global phenomenon and the UK version is undoubtedly one of the very best. We look forward to working with Talpa and the BBC on the second series, using what we've learnt to make it even bigger and better for 2013."

The Voice UK will return for a second series in 2013 on BBC One. Hopefuls can find information on the auditions at bbcthevoiceuk.co.uk.

Los Angeles remained by far the most popular location for comedy pilots this past pilot season but continues to lose drama pilots to other areas, thanks in part to production incentives and more crews and facilities available outside Hollywood, the non-profit group FilmL.A. says in a new report.

That's bad news for the L.A. economy, because drama pilots on average cost $5.5 million compared to $2 million for comedies -- and employ more people. A single drama series can create thousands of jobs and spend tens of millions of dollars, said the group, which issues permits for on-location shoots in the Los Angeles area.

Film L.A. counted 152 broadcast and cable television pilots for the 2011-12 development cycle -- the most of any year except the cycle before, which had 169. Los Angeles dominated with comedies, landing 91 percent of all comedy pilots for both network and cable, in part because it has so many of the soundstages where sitcoms are usually filmed.

But it had less than one-third of dramas, as tax incentives and improving infrastructure continued to draw pilots to New York City, Toronto, Vancouver and other locations. Six development cycles ago -- in 2006-07, L.A. had 63 percent of drama pilots.

New York and Los Angeles tied with 11 broadcast network drama pilots each this past production cycle after having 10 each the previous cycle. Canada had 10 such pilots this time out, and other locations had 11. In cable pilots, Los Angeles led with 11.

At the start of 2012-13 fall viewing season, 18 of the dramas on TV will be L.A.-based, including new and returning shows. Twenty-three dramas will be filmed outside the area. That means that for the first time in FilmL.A.'s study, less than 50 percent of dramas on the air will be shot in L.A., according to the group.

Royce thought the 'I'm Outta Love' singer was an American tourist and after chatting to her for 45 minutes over breakfast at a Glasgow hotel, offered her tickets to be in the audience.

The US star is the latest guest judge to help out at the auditions stage of the ITV1 reality show and is thought to be in the running for a full-time position on the show alongside Mel B, Geri Halliwell and Rita Ora.

She has previous reality TV experience from working as a judge on Channel 5's Glee-inspired reality series Don't Stop Believing.

Anastacia tweeted this morning: "I would like to send a super big shout out to the whole team The X Factor. I had the best time.

"Such a lucky lady to be sitting next to the charming and talented Gary Barlow. But guess what? I think I am crushing on the wild Louis Walsh."

X Factor auditions finish later this month following dates in Cardiff and Newcastle.

The Stanley Cup series-ender might not have led to ratings glory on Monday night, but the 2012 NBA playoffs have definitely given ESPN something to crow about.

This year's NBA playoffs yielded record numbers in both ratings and viewership for ESPN, with the Eastern Conference Finals becoming the network's highest-rated, most-viewed NBA series to date.

The Eastern Conference Finals averaged a 6.2 U.S. household rating, matching the ratings record for conference finals on cable and besting ESPN's coverage of the Western Conference Finals by 44 percent. In terms of total viewers, this year's Eastern Conference Finals drew 10,144,000 total viewers -- a 46 percent jump from 2011.

Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals performed particularly well, racking up a 7.7 U.S. rating to become the highest-rated NBA game on cable. The game also set a cable record for an NBA game, amassing 13,356,000 viewers.

The Eastern Conference Finals helped push ESPN to ratings and viewership records for the playoffs overall. Over 21 games, ESPN averaged a 4.5 household coverage rating, a 25 percent leap over last year's playoffs, and was also up in total viewership, with an average 6,228,000 total viewers versus 4,975,000 for last year.

Starting at 4pm, ITV1's full coverage averaged 8.9m (47.1%), peaking with over 15 million at around 6.30pm as the match ended in a 1-1 draw.

BBC One's screening of the other Group D game, Sweden v Ukraine, scored 5.27m (22.4%) from 7pm. Have I Got A Bit More News For You amused 2.42m (17.2%) at 10.35pm.

A Benidorm repeat held up with 2.61m (10.9%) for ITV1 at 9pm (+1: 165k/0.9%), benefiting from a high lead-in from an hour-long Coronation Street.

Antiques Road Trip started where Great British Menu left off, attracting 2.32m (10.8%) in the 7pm hour. Springwatch followed with 2.26m (9.1%) an hour later, before 1.31m (5.8%) caught Britain in a Day from 9pm.

Big Brother was predictably Channel 5's most-watched show with 1.46m (6.1%) at 9pm (+1: 191k/1%), while The Walking Dead lured 791k (4.3%) an hour later, and Big Brother's Bit on the Side entertained 381k (3.8%) at 11pm.

The Secret Millionaire pulled in 1.43m (5.9%) for Channel 4 from 9pm (+1: 207k/1.1%), prior to which Gok Cooks Chinese served up 770k (3%).

Overall, BBC One led ITV1 in primetime with 22.1% versus 20% (+1: 0.7%). BBC Two claimed third place with 7.6%, ahead of Channel 4's 4.4% (+1: 0.7%), and Channel 5's 3.9% (+1: 0.3%).

With last week's finale dented by the Diamond Jubilee, Made in Chelsea's third series reunion with Rick Edwards grabbed 549k (3%) on E4 at 10pm.

Last month, "Slumdog Millionaire" director Danny Boyle said that the opening ceremony for this summer's Olympic games in London would be inspired by the classic monster story "Frankenstein." And it certainly seems to be shaping up into something stitched together from various disparate elements.

Boyle -- who's serving as artistic director for the ceremony -- revealed this week that the Olympic Stadium will be transformed into the "British countryside" for the opening scene, complete with meadows, two mosh pits representing the Glastonbury festival and the Last Night of the Proms, and a menagerie of animals including 30 sheep.

Oh, and the world's largest "harmonically tuned" bell, because as long as Boyle's throwing random stuff together, why not?

According to the BBC, the opening scene of the ceremony has been dubbed "Green and Pleasant," with fields, rivers, farmers tilling the soil, farmyard animals and other symbols of the bucolic life. Boyle said that the show will be inspired by Shakespeare's "The Tempest," and would depict a land rebounding from its industrial legacy.

The show, Boyle added "a picture of ourselves as a nation."

As for the 23-ton bell, that was crafted by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry?

"That's how communities notified each other that something important was going to happen," Boyle explained. "[A]fter the war the bells were rung in London to announce the peace and we will begin our Games with a symbol of peace."

The opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics takes place July 27. You might want to pack your overalls.

Desperate Housewives recorded its highest ever E4 figure for its last episode on Sunday night (June 10), early overnight data indicates.

The Wisteria Lane drama series, which bowed out with 11.1m in the US last month, attracted 1m (5.4%) to the digital channel at 10pm.

'Finishing the Hat' added 260k (2.5%) an hour later on +1, making it the most-watched multichannel show of the day - new Family Guy was its nearest competitor with 1.05m (4.9%) for BBC Three at 10pm.

Elsewhere in a sports-filled ITV1 schedule, coverage of the French Open final took 1.57m (14.8%) from 1pm, then Spain v Italy's Euro 2012 clash scored 5.83m (32%) at 4pm, and Ireland v Croatia had 6.6m (26.6%) from 7.15pm.

BBC One held up well with its older-viewer-skewed lineup of Countryfile (4.69m/21.2%), Antiques Roadshow (4.99m/20.2%) and Inspector Lynley Mysteries (4.35m/17.2%). Canadian Grand Prix highlights logged an impressive 2.39m (21.2%) from 10.30pm.

Louis Theroux returned to BBC Two for a piece on male porn stars, interesting 1.86m (9.9%) at 10pm, prior to which 1.81m (7.2%) watched Coast.

Movie Dear John was Channel 4's most-watched broadcast with 1.22m (4.8%) at 8pm (+1: 249k/1.1%), while Once Upon a Time and Big Brother anchored Channel 5's evening with 1.07m (4%) and 1.34m (5.3%) at 9pm (+1: 139k/0.7%).

Andy Samberg is going a little "Cuckoo" with the free time on his hands in his post-"Saturday Night Live" era.

Samberg, who announced earlier this month that he won't be returning to the long-running late-night comedy show when it returns next season, will star in the upcoming BBC Three comedy series "Cuckoo," the network said Tuesday.

In the six-part series, Samberg will play the title character, who marries a British woman, much to her family's dismay.

Described as "every parent's worst nightmare -- a slacker full of outlandish, New Age ideas" and a "squared-jawed, self-appointed spiritual ninja."

Greg Davies, Helen Baxendale and Tamla Kari will also star in the series, which begins filming this summer and will air later this year.

The project, which comes from Roughcut Television, will be executive-produced by by Ash Atalla ("The Office," "The IT Crowd"), Chris Sussman, and Dan Hine. Ben Taylor ("Spy") will direct. Robin French and Kieron Quirke created and wrote "Cuckoo."

"Dexter" is making a big play for fans of NBC's much-loved but little-watched "Chuck": The series' Yvonne Strahovski is joining the Showtime serial-killer drama for its seventh season.

Strahovski will appear in a multi-episode story arc as Hannah McKay, "a strong, independent woman with a past that she's struggled to put behind her," according to Showtime.

As Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) and his Miami Metro Homicide cohorts ask for her help in solving some old cases, Dexter begins to wonder if there's more to her than there seems to be. Dexter will have plenty more to deal with next season, given that season 6 ended with his sister, Deb (Jennifer Carpenter), discovering that he's a serial killer.

Production on season 7 started last week. it will premiere on Sunday, Sept. 30.

Strahovski is best-known for playing CIA operative Sarah Walker on NBC’s "Chuck. " She is also co-starting in the film "Guilt Trip," opposite Barbara Streisand and Seth Rogen and starring in "I, Frankenstein" with Aaron Eckhart.

Monday night's Stanley Cup win for the Los Angeles Kings failed to translate to a victory for NBC, which aired the game, while Gordon Ramsay's "Hell's Kitchen" and "MasterChef" cooked up a ratings win for Fox, according to preliminary numbers.

Fox took first place in the advertiser-cherished 18-49 demographic with a 2.7/8, and took second place in total viewership with 6 million. Both of its Gordon Ramsay offerings, "Hell's Kitchen" at 8 and "MasterChef" at 9, grew 13 percent in the ratings from last week's season premieres, receiving a 2.7/9 and 2.6/7, respectively. (In total viewers, "Hell's Kitchen" drew 6.1 million, while MasterChef took in 5.8 million.) "Hell's Kitchen" was also the top-rated program of the night, with "MasterChef" taking second place.

ABC came in second in ratings and first in total viewers with an average 1.9/5 and 6.6 million. The total viewership victory was due largely to "The Bachelorette" at 8, which was the night's most-watched program with 7.3 million total viewers. In ratings, "The Bachelorette" inched up from last week for a 2.3/7. A "Castle" repeat followed.

NBC ran Game 6 of the Stanley Cup series throughout primetime on the East Coast. While the nature of live sports renders the network's numbers approximate, preliminary data places the network in third place in ratings with a 1.6/5 and fourth in total viewers with an average 4.1 million. That would be a 20 percent drop from last year's Game 6, and an overall low for Game 6 of the Stanley Cup series, as well as the lowest-rated Stanley Cup series-ender since 2006.

CBS, which took fourth in ratings and third in total viewers with a 1.4/4 and 5.7 million, ran repeats throughout the night.

The Federal Communicatons Commission voted 5-0 to extend its "viewability rule" for six months.

The rule requires cable operators to ensure that all of their customers have access to local must-carry TV signals until Dec. 12.

The rule was slated to expire automatically Tuesday. Without it, cable’s analog TV subscribers will have to use digital-to-analog converter boxes to continue receiving broadcast TV must-carry signals.

The decision -- proposed by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski -- comes as a victory for cable operators, but a defeat for small independent and foreign-language broadcasters, who fear that without the rule they will lose a good percentage of their audiences.

About 12.6 million cable households are still equipped with analog sets -- out of a total 58 million cable subscribers. Unless those customers lease or buy digital-to-analog converter boxes from their cable operators, they may lose access over their cable systems to the must-carry signals.

Under the FCC decision announced Tuesday, the cable industry will be able to charge the millions of analog cable TV industry customers for the converters they will need to continue getting the must-carry signals.

An FCC spokeswoman told TheWrap that the agency is recommending that cable operators not charge "materially" more than $2 a month for the converters.

In the text of the FCC’s new rule, the agency also said that if "a significant number" of consumers complain about being overcharged by an operator, the FCC might require the operator to carry analog must-carry signals again.

“In reality, the operator can charge whatever it wants,” said Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters, in response.

National Cable & Telecommunications Association President and CEO Michael Powell commended the FCC "for the adoption of a forward-looking, pro-consumer order that will promote the deployment of faster broadband and the expansion of new and exciting digital services."

"With the majority of all households now enjoying digital services, the cable industry will maximize its bandwidth to provide innovative services that connect consumers to things they care about most," he added in his statement. "And while some customers have yet to make the transition to digital, cable providers will continue to work hard to make that conversion as smooth as possible.”

The viewability rule was adopted by the FCC in 2007 so that that millions of cable TV subscribers with analog TV sets could continue receiving must-carry TV stations signals after the broadcast TV industry switched from analog to digital transmission.

The rule has required cable operators to either retransmit the must-carry signals in both analog and digital formats or to ensure that all subscribers have the equipment needed to view the signals on their TV sets.

The FCC originally set a three-year limit on the rule, assuming most cable systems would also have switched to digital by now.

Broadcasters had been lobbying for the FCC to extend the rule for another three years.

When word got out Monday that Genachowski's compromise plan was likely to be passed, Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., urged the agency to extend the rule for “at least one year.”

“Without the viewability rule, consumers without all-digital cable service would be forced to purchase or lease supplementary cable boxes, resulting in additional fees to view programming that was previously included at no cost,” Quigley said in a letter to Genachowski.

The watchdog Consumers Union took a different tack: It has asked the FCC, assuming the rule were axed, to require cable operators to provide free converter boxes to their analog customers.

The cable TV industry argued that the viewability regulation violates cable’s First Amendment rights by making operators devote channel space they could use for other programming to delivering duplicative must-carry signals in both analog and digital formats.